<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>A Different Christmas by BitterSnowflake</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28269255">A Different Christmas</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BitterSnowflake/pseuds/BitterSnowflake'>BitterSnowflake</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Tom Hiddleston - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Christmas Fluff, Dog sitter, F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:16:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,161</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28269255</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BitterSnowflake/pseuds/BitterSnowflake</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much for reading! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!</p></div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tom Hiddleston x Reader, Tom Hiddleston/Reader, Tom Hiddleston/You, tom hiddleston x you</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Different Christmas</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>2020 was a strange and difficult year due to the outbreak of Covid-19. With the social distancing directives, you had never been as isolated from your family and friends as you were now. Because of the virus, you and your family had agreed that this Christmas would have to be different than all the others. So it happened that for the first time you were going to spend Christmas all alone. Well, not completely alone. Your neighbour's dog Bobby was there with you. You loved your furry friend and gladly spent the holidays in his company. But you did miss the human contact.</p><p>Since you were going to be alone anyway, you didn’t bother to make any Christmas dinner. You made sure to buy Bobby a meat bone and wrap it in Christmas paper, and of course he had to have a new toy as well. You bought him a stuffed Santa, it was very ugly but you were certain he would love it anyway.</p><p>When you had just come back from a walk with Bobby and was about to get started on your not so christmassy dinner, the doorbell rang. It was Bobby’s owner, your neighbour Tom. The painfully handsome and incredibly nice, successful actor who had starstruck you the first time you met. You had become friends through your mutual love for dogs. You had always wanted a dog, but your dad had been allergic and now you had work getting in the way, so you were always more than happy to spend time with Bobby whenever you got the chance.</p><p>“Oh, look Bobby! Daddy’s here!” you told your four legged friend excitedly and he came running towards you with his tail wagging. Oh, how you loved the sound of his little paws against your floor as he ran. You were going to miss it. Then you blushed slightly as you realised that you had just referred to Tom as ‘daddy’. He smiled warmly at you as he bent down to pet Bobby.</p><p>“Thank you for having him,” Tom said appreciatively.</p><p>“Oh, trust me. The pleasure is all mine. Without him, I would have been alone all Christmas,” you told him.</p><p>“You’ve been alone all day?” Tom asked, surprisedly raising his eyebrows at you. “That’s unacceptable, it’s Christmas. Have you had dinner yet?”</p><p>“No, I was just about to make some,” you told him.</p><p>“Well, I’ve got tons of leftover Christmas food that my mother sent home with me. How about coming over to my place for dinner?” Tom offered.</p><p>“That’s incredibly nice of you, Tom. Are you sure?” you asked him.</p><p>“Of course I’m sure,” Tom told you smilingly. “Come on. I’ve got a Christmas gift for you, but I forgot it at home.”</p><p>“Oh, you really didn’t have to,” you said blushingly. “I actually have something for you too. It’s from me and Bobby, mostly Bobby actually.” </p><p>You had made Tom a gift you thought he might like. You had ordered a mug with a photograph of him and Bobby together that you had taken a while back. It had the text ‘World’s Best Dad’ on it and a print of Bobby’s paw, which you had used a photo of his paw to make.</p><p>“Really?” Tom asked surprisedly, looking intrigued. “I’m really excited to see what it is.”</p><p>You smiled in response before getting his and Bobby’s Christmas gifts to bring with you to his place. You had been there a couple of times before and really liked the atmosphere there, it was neat and homey at the same time.</p><p>You and Tom had leftover Christmas dinner together and shared a bottle of fine wine. You could feel your cheeks grow warm, but wasn’t sure whether it was the effect of the alcohol or merely Tom’s presence. He often made you flustered, seemingly effortlessly.</p><p>When it was time to exchange Christmas gifts, you both smiled at each other while Bobby was running around your legs excitedly. You threw his brand new stuffed santa for him and he soon came back with it, wagging his tail.</p><p>“He loves it,” Tom told you happily and leaned in to whisper in your ear, so Bobby wouldn’t hear. “But it’s a bit ugly, isn’t it?” You laughed at his comment.</p><p>“How superficial of you,” you playfully admonished him. “At least Bobby sees him for what’s on the inside.”</p><p>“Cotton? I’m sure he does,” Tom laughed. “Go on, open your gift.”</p><p>“Open yours first,” you told him.</p><p>“Let’s open them at the same time,” Tom suggested and you agreed.</p><p>As you unwrapped your gift and realised that it was in a box with the exact same size as the box you had just handed to Tom, your heart skipped a beat. It couldn’t be. But it was! You felt tears fill your eyes as you saw the picture on the mug of you and Bobby and the text ‘World’s Best Dog Sitter’ on it. It was the sweetest gift you had ever received. You looked up at Tom to thank him and noticed that he too was staring at his gift with watery eyes.</p><p>“I love it,” Tom told you and brought you into a hug.</p><p>“I love it too,” you replied as you hugged him back hard. “More than you can imagine.”</p><p>“I’m so glad to hear,” Tom replied. You parted from the hug and both admired your gifts for a moment when the central figure of the evening reappeared with the ugly santa in his mouth. You both knelt down to pet him. Bobby was wagging his tail from excitement and looked at the two of you expectantly. Tom grabbed the toy that Bobby had put on the floor in front of you and threw it across the room. As you both turned back from looking at him run, your faces were just centimetres away from each other.</p><p>“We’re not so good at keeping a distance, are we?” you joked blushingly as he looked you in the eyes. He smiled at you and you at him.</p><p>“I suppose we’re not,” he agreed, but made no effort to move away from you. You could feel the smell of his cologne and felt a shrill of excitement run down your spine. “Since the damage has probably already been done,” he added and leaned in to kiss you. You deepened the kiss as you shut your eyes and put your arms around his neck. He tasted of the wine you had just had and you absolutely loved it. Before you could go full makeout session, there was a playful bark coming from right next to you. You and Tom instantly parted from each other and looked at the playful Bobby. “How about a Christmas walk in the park?” Tom suggested.</p><p>“‘I would love to,” you replied with a smile. It had been a very different Christmas this year, but thanks to Tom and Bobby, it had been different in the best way possible.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much for reading! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>